July 30 NCTE update re transition

[Glenn Blalock]

“Moving Forward: Updates on CCCC from the NCTE Executive Committee“

NCTE update statement on transition and transition leader: 

https://ncte.org/press-updates/moving-forward-cccc/

Note leader of transition??

g

[Kate Tirabassi]

"The Transition Team will investigate the creation of an assembly within NCTE that focuses on the teaching of college writing." We had that--it was called CCCCs. 

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[Alisha Karabinus]

But what if we could spend tons of time, energy, and money doing the
same thing again, but with a new name and new leadership, for
reasons???
ugh

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cccc-l/CAADkNiWdzPKz_zshRbciW5nBATWFh0kO9duZLnrJuBA517gj5A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Heather Bruce]

Does anyone have any idea what the f*ck is going on here? Let's destroy what we have and create the same thing????

[Mark C.]

"This may include exploring a different structure for writing studies within NCTE that allows greater autonomy than the previous organizational structure of CCCC allowed. These potential activities may include presentation opportunities (including conferences),"

So they erased a conference so that they "may" create possible conferences?

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[Seth Kahn]

The not-very-sub-subtext here is about the structural relationship between NCTE and whatever this new...thing is called. 

Since CCCC was founded, it's run what some people have called semi-autonomously. CCCC had our own leaders, our own bylaws, all the activities we ran for ourselves, etc, and as long as we didn't violate NCTE rules, they pretty much left us to it (and also controlled the finances, but most of us were happy enough to leave that to them when things were better). Who knows how much of a coincidence it is that NCTE seemed to want a lot more control over CCCC right about the time NCTE hired a new Executive Director. So that's what I think this is about. This new team is going to design a way of doing activities that ostensibly support Writing Studies teachers/researchers/administrators, but without the structural autonomy (and complexity) that CCCC had. Which will also make it a lot easier for NCTE to determine what happens in those activities in some ways I'm deeply uncomfortable with. 

And I'll also say publicly, there may not be anyone I trust more than Holly H to be on the lookout for exactly that and to be working on policies to mitigate it. How she responds to it I wouldn't presume to say, but I'm confident it won't go unnoticed and unmarked. I'll also say publicly that none of this will repair NCTE enough for me to rejoin it. As long as the current ED is there, and as long as its governance structure allows someone like her ever to be hired again, I'm out. 

--Seth

--Seth

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Seth Kahn (he/him/his)
Department of English
West Chester University of PA

"Let's save pessimism for better times." --Eduardo Galleano

[Adam phillips]

It seems like a ploy to keep membership numbers up. I think Holly Hassel has the fields' best interests in mind, but I am extremely hesitant to trust anything NCTE says at this point. I am much more willing yo devote time and energy to creating something outside of their control. Then we know it will have more autonomy.

Adam Phillips

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[Lucy Arnold]

Yes, I am interested in leaving NCTE. They have lost my trust. I am also willing to put my time and energy into building something new. 

My concern is that I am in English Education, too; I wonder how folks would feel about forming an English Education SIG at AERA? I did a bit of research, and there isn't one currently. We would need 75-100 members to start. But I'm wondering if folks have better ideas and suggestions. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cccc-l/1196161343.2097738.1785442064245%40mail.yahoo.com.

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"Curiosity as restless questioning, as movement toward the revelation of something hidden, as a question verbalized or not, as search for clarity, as a moment of attention, suggestion, and vigilance, constitutes an integral part of the phenomenon of being alive. There could be no creativity without the curiosity that moves us and sets us patiently impatient before a world that we did not make, to add to it something of our own making."

-Paulo Freire

[Clay Walker]

I trust Holly to act in the best interest of the field given the circumstances. They would have found someone to lead the transition team one way or another. Regardless of who leads the transition team, the loss of trust will be the biggest hurdle to overcome. NCTE acted with such disregard for membership that I don't think there can be a repair in the relationship. On the other hand, there's also **alot** of money left on the table with the foreclosure of Cs. We cannot easily replace $millions even if we start our own non-profit or align with another parent organization. 

It seems like the most angry people are those who have been the most involved with Cs throughout their career -- they've invested their time, labor, and energy to see it all thrown away. Not everyone has those experiences or feelings. There's also lots of people in the field who have had critiques of Cs and many of them have seen it as an organization that seemed to move away from their scholarly/teacherly identities/roles. They won't carry the same baggage either. I suspect NCTE will be successful in strengthening its college section; some members of our field will return slowly or not at all to NCTE, and maybe they will find a new home. Fortune telling can be tricky, but I doubt we will recreate some historical version of Cs that was the mothership no matter which path(s) we follow.

Clay Walker, PhD

Lecturer III, Program in Technical Communication

College of Engineering at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

o: 5512 Engineering Research Building

e: cle...@umich.edu

p: 734-751-1516

z: https://umich.zoom.us/my/clay.walker

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[Seth Kahn]

I don't know if Clay will agree with what I'm about to add onto his point, but following up about people who will gravitate back to NCTE because they don't really have an obvious reason not to (which I've also been saying), I want to say very clearly that I do not want that to sound natural or obvious. NCTE is depending on positioning people who are currently angry as weird and malcontents so all the "civil" and "normal" people can just ignore us. I don't want to make that task easier for them. The way they've handled this has been really irresponsible (and lots of other things, IMO, but that one seems pretty uncontroversial), and I'm not comfortable just watching other members of our profession get sucked back into their orbit because it's there and familiar. Along with which, I think the reactions and planning that are already happening in response to this situation are making clear that as a field, we don't need NCTE as a home. It's not 1949 anymore. 

--Seth

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[Adam phillips]

I don't think we need a mothership organization, at least not at this juncture. I think we need regional community building in the field, one thing other orgs in our fields thrive(d) at. From there we can reenvision where we go from here. For now, we need conversation and visions for the future.

Just my opinion on the path forward. 

Kindly,

Adam Phillips

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[Clay Walker]

I agree with Seth. We don’t need NCTE and it will be easy to return to them. It will be challenging to build something new, but I believe it’s worth our independence. July 24th demonstrated that to be true. But as we move forward I do believe it’s important to listen to the variety of perspectives that constitute the field. 

Clay Walker, PhD

Lecturer III, Program in Technical Communication

College of Engineering at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

o: 5512 Engineering Research Building

e: cle...@umich.edu

p: 734-751-1516

z: https://umich.zoom.us/my/clay.walker

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[Alexandra Hidalgo]

I hope we manage to build something away from NCTE and other organizations like it. Not that MLA or AWP have been calling, but if they do, I think we're better off with something smaller but ours. Something that can grow over time. 

Thank you, Seth, for reminding us that NCTE is playing a dirty game of calling those of us who are upset abnormalities. We're not! 

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Alexandra Hidalgo, Ph.D.

Crow Chair of English and Associate Professor

Department of English

University of Pittsburgh

Pronouns: she/her/hers

 

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[Kate Vieira]

Hi Lucy--I'm also in English Education and am in a school of ed. It would be great to get the folks who cross English Ed and Writing Studies together. I don't usually go to AERA--but I wonder if others do?

Kate

[Lucy Arnold]

I would also love this. There was someone else mentioned on the Discord, too. I will put some kind of communication together. 

"Curiosity as restless questioning, as movement toward the revelation of something hidden, as a question verbalized or not, as search for clarity, as a moment of attention, suggestion, and vigilance, constitutes an integral part of the phenomenon of being alive. There could be no creativity without the curiosity that moves us and sets us patiently impatient before a world that we did not make, to add to it something of our own making."

-Paulo Freire

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cccc-l/2a21e140-ca39-4fd5-b8f7-b20dd74ddad2n%40googlegroups.com.

[Chris Basgier]

Hi all,

In light of the July 30 NCTE update, a few of us created a petition to signal our desire for a future home of the field independent of NCTE. Please consider signing! 

https://www.ipetitions.com/p/supporting-a-new-home-for-the-writing-studies-community/?utm_source=share_copy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signer_share

Chris

Christopher Basgier, Ph.D.

Director of University Writing | Auburn University Office of the Provost

Co-Publisher | The WAC Clearinghouse

3436 RBD Library
Auburn, AL 36849-5279
334-844-7493
chris....@auburn.edu

Pronouns: he/him/his

Pronunciation: Bass-gear

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[Bethany Monea]

Hi Lucy, Kate, and everyone,

I also work at the intersection of English Education / K-12 Education Research / and Postsecondary Writing Studies, and I appreciate you bringing up these questions about where those of us who work across K-12 and college writing might find a home. I like your idea about an English Ed SIG at AERA, and I would also pitch the AERA Writing and Literacies SIG as a place where many of these conversations are already happening.

With Nicole Green and Zachary Garrett, I've recently been co-chairing the High School-College Connections group at Cs, and we had over a dozen people at our business meeting in Cleveland. We also have a (not very active) listserv community and contact information for others who cross these spaces. I would welcome the chance to organize together! 

Thanks for offering to put something together, Lucy, and let me know how I can help

-Bethany

Bethany Monea, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Writing and Community Engagement

University of the District of Columbia

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[Lucy Arnold]

Bethany,

Wow, that's awesome! I am interested in being a part of the AERA Writing and Literacies SIG; also, I think English Education might need its own space. Secondary English teachers and their teacher educators work in writing studies, but we are also working in literature, speaking and listening, etc. I think NCTE has traditionally been our home, and I'm personally just not interested in an organization that is complying in advance or whatever they are doing that they refuse to state openly. 

I really appreciate your ideas and your offer. I will be touch soon! 

Lucy

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[Dana Driscoll]

From Kathleen Yancey on Facebook:

"About CCCC Redux Squared

Please share widely—

Like others in the writing studies community, I received a note from NCTE regarding a "transition" to some other structure within or allied with NCTE for writing studies peeps. 

The top-of-the-list task for the transition group is assuring that every single dollar of the $4.5 MILLION in CCCC reserves--produced via our membership funds, our conference fees, our book purchases--is transferred to this new group.”

I knew that CCCC had millions in reserve, but now we have a number.  

Dana

=======/|\=======

Dr. Dana Lynn Driscoll

Professor of Writing and Co-Coordinator, Composition and Applied Linguistics Doctoral Program

Founding Director, Center for Scholarly Communication

IUP Institutional Review Board Member

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

On Jul 31, 2026, at 11:15 AM, Lucy Arnold <zen.luc...@gmail.com> wrote:

You don't often get email from zen.luc...@gmail.com. Learn why this is important

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[Kyle Stedman]

Thanks for sharing that, Dana! 

Re: the source of that number: My guess is that the 4.5 million number came from the 2026 CCCC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Report, which Traci has archived at https://www.cccc-l.org/reports/governance/cccc-executive-secretary-treasurer-report-april-2026/. There we see:

• CCCC Required Reserve Fund: $2,102,888
• CCCC Contingency Fund: $2,464,184

No ideas about the legal questions: who gets that money, and how, but Yancey's point seems wise to me: that it came from us and thus ought to be returned to us. That's been my biggest worry all along about these "transition elsewhere" conversations: how to pay for stuff without startup funds. But now, hmm....

--Kyle

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[Alexandra Hidalgo]

My sense is that NCTE will keep the money. Not only are they claiming to be starting a new space for us within their conference, but they also will have much better legal representation than we'll be able to afford. They have shown themselves, however, to be an organization we can't really trust. At least in my view. I think we'd be better off starting small and growing than staying with a group that doesn't seem to value our input. 

That's why I signed the petition (https://www.ipetitions.com/p/supporting-a-new-home-for-the-writing-studies-community/?utm_source=share_copy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signer_share) that Chris shared. 

Anyway, those are my thoughts on this!

Alex

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[bonnie lenore kyburz]

I've quieted down about the de-chartering of CCCC. I'm reading and thinking and feeling many things. From where I stand—"shakily," an extreme understatement— "in the field" or "in my career," I can't help looking at the situation from a low status position. No, I'm not whinging about being NTT (tho ...), but "low status" as in improvisation, as in "yes, and," *moving the scene forward*. My view is also focused through the lens of post-tenured professor failure. IOW, it's hard out here.

Please scroll on if you simply can't read anything more from me. That's fine. Love you, and because I love you and this field and its work, I'm looking for options, even as I'm dangling by the finest fiber optic cable. Thus, the following questions. Be gentle in your reply because you'll be responding to me, not NCTE. Thx!

Questions about staying, leaving, or (seems impossible, especially in this moment), trying to start something new:

1.) I wonder: It seems vital that we have the support of a national organization. I'm thinking not only of infrastructure but resonance with powerful stakeholders, along with both academic and mainstream media.

2.) FWIW, my earliest professional failure was about making writing program admin moves absent the fuller (higher admin & program leadership) backstage details about the problem.

3.) For our own interests (see #1), is it possible we may work through the crisis with NCTE, to stay?

4.) OR (my initial and lasting sense of things), perhaps we might find space in a powerful, existing national & international organization. MLA has been attempting for over two decades to regain the trust and memberships of CCCC's members. The distancing from MLA in the 1990's (NOT "THE 19TH CENTURY"—LOL) was about our field's status as a discipline; I believe that argument is long over.

5.) Mostly, I'm reading that many want to see CCCC start over, and I wonder, with what? We may claw back our finances, and infrastructure built, but status with leaders, trustees, and other empowered stakeholders—on whom we rely (like it or not) for our very existence as a field and for various forms of status nationally, regionally, and locally, and, importantly in this moment, in the mainstream mediaspace—is already so dangerously imperiled. Attaching to a strong organization feels important.

6.) The messaging: NCTE's rhetoric is clunky, as are most corporate-type messages from leadership. I feel we're spending so very much time on the messaging that we may be missing something(s). Of course, this is what we do, as rhetoricians, but also, as strategic rhetors, we may also ... find other ways of working with and against NCTE's messaging to serve our best designs.

7.) 7, because it's a magic number, so I couldn't end with 6, but I look for magic. Also to repeat: I am fragile as fuck (some rhetorician!), so please be gentle, even if you think I'm the enemy (I'm not) or wrong (could be).

With hope,

Dr. Bonnie Lenore Kyburz

bdotlenorekyburz.com

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[Cat September Williams-Monardes]

Hi Bonnie,

Thank you for your vulnerability. I think you raise some excellent points. 

I’ve been following the email chain daily, and something that stands out to me is a sense of fear. I believe that a lot of us have found the dechartering to be traumatic….grad students (tbh everyone) who dreamt of one day presenting at Cs, authors whose articles are forthcoming (I can’t imagine the agony of those days waiting to find out if your work would still be published), faculty who lost their positions during the pandemic and feel perhaps a loss that reminds them of past feelings. 

In this current climate, I know that I personally am scared of what is happening now and what will happen to the profession. I won’t speak for anyone else, but I know that for me, part of the desire to see things swiftly “get fixed” or at least made better is a trauma response. 

Is there a rush to figure things out? I’m genuinely asking—I have no idea. I just got my first tenure-track position and have no information or suggestions to share lol except that I hope people take the weekend to do something nice for themselves. I think a lot of us are fragile right now. 

Cat Williams-Monardes

(she/her)

P.S. If anyone snaps at Bonnie, we ride at dawn. 

On Jul 31, 2026, at 1:43 PM, bonnie lenore kyburz <bonnie...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[bonnie lenore kyburz]

Cat, 

First, congratulations on your first tenure track job! 🌸 🎂 🌸 🎂

Second, thank you for hearing me and understanding my questions, which are shaped by my own professional experiences of trauma. It feels important to emphasize that trauma responses are not at all irrational—they are very real, with internal and material consequences, so you are right, imho, to ask, "Is there a rush to figure things out?" 

Finally, anyone who is feeling afraid may feel free to email or message me. I may not have answers, but I'm here, in solidarity, to explore these feelings, even if only to listen.

With you in wondering and hoping for an excellent weekend!

Sincerely,

Dr. Bonnie Lenore Kyburz

bdotlenorekyburz.com

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[Kyle Stedman]

Yes, Bonnie, thanks for the discussion! Some quick replies:

• I know less than I ought about how these organizations work behind the scenes. (I've been to Cs 16 times in person and went to my first business meeting last April.) So I can't say for sure if it's true or not that we need the support of a national org, and I'm inclined to trust the many who have served in CCCC and NCTE leadership. But yeah, my gut agrees with you that leaning on a national institution would be much easier and perhaps wiser than branching out on our own—an org to manage finances, file tax forms, field thousands of questions, make reservations, etc. . . . of course it's easier that way. That's not to dismiss the reasons others have given for what we'd gain without being tied to a national org.
• Should that national org. be NCTE? I don't think so. Holly Hassel is wise enough that she might convince me otherwise in the coming weeks, but I think this relationship has been hurt so much that there would always be too much worry of another shoe dropping later, potentially worse. So I can't see it. I agree wtih your suggestion (if I'm reading you right) that their messaging might be clunkier than their actual reality—by which I mean that there really could be some good leaders and ideas and possibilities at NCTE beneath the veneer of their insulting emails. (I'm less angry than some people are, though I respect all the anger I'm seeing.) But the bridge is too burned, I think. I signed the petition that our future shouldn't be tied to them.
• Should it be MLA? I was impressed by Cheryl Ball's point about this online in the immediate aftermath of the decision, and I trust Cheryl a lot. Beyond that, I don't know enough to say, and I'd want certain guarantees about openness, finances, nature of the relationship, etc. to be exceptionally clear (as we all would). In other words, if I heard that MLA came to CCCC leaders and offered to take us on, much as the same sort of org we've been but just under their umbrella, I'd absolutely consider it.

Still: I find myself wanting to just get on with my course prep and other things at my job, waiting passively to see what options are presented in the next few days. I'm not sure if I trust that impulse in my heart to take a breather and wait to see what comes next (an impulse that is tied to my many, many privileges), but still: the exhaustion with it all is real.

Thanks for writing,

Kyle

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[bonnie lenore kyburz]

As I suspected, powerful work has been happening.
See Donnie Johnson Sackey's update on his FB page. 

Dr. Bonnie Lenore Kyburz

bdotlenorekyburz.com

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